SHARKK® Apple iPad Air Keyboard Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard for Case Cover Stand For iPad 5 Air With 360 Degree Rotating Feature And Multiple Viewing Angles. Folio Style with IOS Commands. For the iPad Air ONLY..
GET SHARKK® Apple iPad Air Keyboard Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard for Case Cover Stand For iPad 5 Air With 360 Degree Rotating Feature And Multiple Viewing Angles. Folio Style with IOS Commands. For the iPad Air ONLY By SHARKK
Most helpful customer reviews
73 of 74 people found the following review helpful.
By jjceo
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R16B49NQSNPZSK This is an excellent Bluetooth keyboard that has a lot of features built in. It has a rechargeable lithium battery that you can charge with your computer's USB port or with any USB AC wall charger that you own. It has a nice method of allowing you to tilt the iPad and place it into a couple of grooved tabs to allow you to type, view videos or to read. It makes your iPad look like a mini laptop. The case is beautifully painted with a rubberized texture of paint that is easy to grip and it does not show fingerprints. There is also has brushed aluminum used in the case's back stand. The stand allows you to rotate the iPad 360 degrees and tilt it in the landscape or in the portrait modes. There is a locking tab on the front of the case to help hold the lid closed.
I like how the back of the case slides out on two aluminum guides and it provides a sturdy stand to support the iPad Air when it is standing up. There are rubber feet on the bottom of the case to prevent it from sliding and the back portion that slides out also has rubber feet on it.
Before you use the keyboard for the first time you should charge it and it may take up to 4 hours to charge for the first time. The LED charge light will turn red while the keyboard is charging and it will turn green when it is fully charged. If the battery becomes low it will blink green to indicate that it is time to recharge the battery.
Snapping in the iPad is fast and easy to do and it is securely held into place. Taking it out is harder but just take your time and pop out one corner at a time.
The battery is a rechargeable lithium battery. It has an uninterrupted working time of 60 hours. The keyboard has an auto sleep mode so if you are not typing it will go asleep. When you touch the keyboard it will wake up in about 2 to 5 seconds. After the initial charging it should take about 2 hours to recharge the internal battery. There is a micro USB port on the side of the keyboard that is used for charging the battery.
The keyboard also has magnets in it that will put your iPad into the sleep mode or wake it up when you raise the keyboard off of the iPad. (Please see my video) The keyboard features a wireless Bluetooth connection to your iPad and the pairing process is fast and easy. I show how to pair it in my video. The working range of the Bluetooth is about 33 feet.
What's in the box?
* The case that weighs in at one pound
* There is a charging cable that is 32 inches long.
* A brief instruction manual.
The keyboard is very nice and the letter keys and the shift keys are larger than they were on older styles of Bluetooth keyboards. They have made the top row of specialty keys smaller as well as the arrow keys to allow more space for the keys that you use the most. Remember that the auto capitalization, double space for a period and the auto spell functions do not work when you are using the keyboard as opposed to typing on the iPad's virtual keyboard. The top row of specialty keys are home, dim screen, brighten screen, pop up the virtual keyboard, cut, copy, paste, skip back, play/pause, skip forward, mute volume, volume down, volume up and lock the iPad. If you stop typing for a few minutes the keyboard will go to sleep to save battery life and you only have to touch any key to turn it back on. Wait for 2 to 5 seconds before you begin speed typing. There is also a LED that is yellow if the Caps Lock key is on.
This is a very nice keyboard with a lot of features. The case's cut outs are all properly located and this is a nice and rugged case with a professional look. I rate it as a 5 star item.
I was supplied a sample for test and evaluation and I promised to provide a fair and honest review.
47 of 48 people found the following review helpful.
By markymarc
I purchased this keyboard case for my wife which seemed to be a pretty good value for comparable or same features of higher priced cases. After having it for about a week she seemed to be having trouble with the Bluetooth connection. We would notice the Bluetooth connection on the ipad air but the keyboard would not work. After trying multiple troubleshooting we decided to see if the same problem was happening to others & it was. Looking at comments after some of the reviews there was Sharrk support offering to lend a hand to the situation. I will be back with an update to see how this pans out. I sent out my email on a Saturday so not expecting a reply at least until Monday or sometime next week.
UPDATE 1/6/14: Received email from Sharrk today & there's a problem with Bluetooth chip. They will be sending me another case FOC as soon as production on new cases begins. They started having problems after Apples last update.
48 of 53 people found the following review helpful.
By J. Burke
Review of SHARKK Bluetooth Keyboard for iPad Air
December 14, 2013
Disclaimer: I was given this keyboard for free on the condition that I would write a fair and honest review of my experience with it. Please note also that I am very particular and critical about the devices I purchase or use.
I am writing this review on my new iPad Air using an early release of the new SHARKK Wireless Keyboard Case. It is being composed on the Apple Pages word processing program that came with the iPad Air.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS:
The packaging is rather disconcerting. The rather plain white box with gray lettering says, "WIRELESS KEYBOARD. Made For Tablet PC." The box says nothing about being made specifically for the iPad Air. And neither the box nor the included paperwork say where the keyboard is manufactured, but one assumes it was made in China.
The small user guide is printed in color on glossy paper. The translation is relatively good, but the document itself, just 4 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches and printed on both sides, could be considerably larger, or fold out to be larger, with a much larger font, especially for those of us with older eyes. A more professional looking user guide would also serve to make the contents seem more high-end and not so cheap if the purchaser is influenced by the included documentation.
THE DEVICE
The outside of the case looks beautifully crafted with a matte finish to the plastic top and bottom halves (good for grip and for negating finger prints). The underside has four small hard rubber feet. The bracket running from the hinge to the middle of the top half is metal and seems very solid.
Specs:
The keyboard case itself weighs 15.9 ounces (449 g). With the iPad Air, the assembly weighs 2 pounds 0.3 ounces (916 g). It measures 9 9/16 inches wide, 7 3/16 inches deep (including the hinge), and 1 inch thick in the back (including the arm for the stand).
The unit comes with a built-in lithium battery, and the box includes a USB to mini-USB charging cable. You must use your own wall plug or computer to charge the keyboard. I did not test a fully-charged unit long enough to assess the longevity of a charge.
After snapping in the iPad Air to the top half, the entire back one inch of the top of the keyboard slides back on two metal rails. The bottom edge of the iPad sits in two curved receptacles (which nest inside the slider piece when closed).
The entire unit seems very impressive with solid construction, and the iPad clicks in extremely securely to the lid. In fact, the attachment is so secure that I found it extraordinarily difficult to remove the iPad from the case. This case (and others of similar design) really need some sort of opening on the back so one could apply pressure to the iPad itself in order to pop it out of the case.
The iPad mounts into the lid with the Home button position on the right, and opening and closing the top activates the on/off function of the tablet. Note that this case permits you to use the iPad in two landscape positions and two portrait positions, so you can position the iPad buttons and ports in any of these four positions. Note, however, that when you position the iPad in portrait mode, the top half of the unit becomes quite top-heavy and wants to lean back, plus the bottom edge of the case does not sit very securely in the two receptacles.
By moving the back hinge backwards and forwards, you can achieve any angle from about 45 degrees back to about 10 degrees forward. For myself, I would like to be able to tip the tablet a little further back.
You can also lay the back side of the top case (the side to which the bracket is attached) against the keys in order to use the iPad in touch-tablet mode, but it is not really comfortable to hold in this position for any length of time because the curvature of the back brace prevents the top case from lying flat against the keyboard.
When closed for transporting, the screen is protected from touching the keys by rubber bumpers on the front edge of the keyboard, and by the hinge providing a bit of space on the back edge.
The keyboard has two switches in the top right corner above the function keys: an ON/OFF slider which briefly activates three lights, and a connect-to-wifi push button. Pressing this button causes a blue Bluetooth light to begin flashing, seeking a connection. Then you need to open the Bluetooth function in Settings on your iPad, click on "SHARKK Keyboard," then enter the displayed code on the physical keyboard. You are supposed to remain connected to your iPad unless you press the wifi button again, but I found that this is not the case.
The instructions say to never turn off the keyboard and just let it go to sleep when you are done using it. To wake it up, you are supposed to hit any key and wait 5 seconds for it to wake up. It is supposed to reconnect automatically, just like a BT headset or speaker. Unfortunately, both this keyboard and the SHARKK Backlit Keyboard (which I purchased earlier) fail miserably in this department. Here is the only way I can get the keyboard to reconnect to my iPad after being in sleep mode for several hours:
+Open Settings on the iPad and choose the Bluetooth menu. The screen says "SHARKK Keyboard Connected," but the keyboard will not do anything.
+Turn off Bluetooth on the iPad, wait a few seconds, then turn it back on.
+Press the BT Connect button on the keyboard, then tap "SHARKK Keyboard" on the iPad screen. The status will now read "Connected" and the keyboard finally works.
For some reason, I have to use the above method on both of my SHARKK keyboards. I do not have to use it with any of my other Bluetooth devices, including an Arcadia keyboard sold by New Trent.
Back to the keyboard layout: there are three lights to the left of the two buttons just discussed:
+Caps Lock light (a necessity for me).
+Battery charging status light.
+BT connection light.
Unfortunately, the Caps Lock light did not activate for me for two days. On the second evening of evaluating the keyboard it finally began working.
The keyboard has chicklet style keys (flat tops with no sculpting - not "Chocolate Style Keys" as listed on Amazon) with good spring action and adaptable separation after you get used to the necessary compaction of the overall dimensions. The one nagging issue I have with both of my SHARKK keyboards is that the repeat stroke function needs to be less sensitive. Most of my corrections are to redo typos with repeated letters.
Amazingly, for being such a compact design, all of the keys are in the correct place! Most notably, the SHIFT key is not interrupted by the arrow keys like on some other brands.
There is also the great feature of a dedicated row of iOS-specific function keys above the row of number keys. These keys are, from left to right, HOME, DIM, BRIGHTEN, SHOW/HIDE ONSCREEN KB, CUT, COPY, PASTE, AUDIO REVERSE, PLAY/PAUSE, AUDIO FORWARD, MUTE, VOL DOWN, VOL UP, LOCK (turns off iPad). These keys also double as F1 to F12 function keys if pressed with the FN key at the bottom left of the keyboard.
The well-placed arrow keys also double as PGUP, PGDN, HOME, END keys while pressing the FN key. Note that, because of inconsistent programming of word processing apps, these enhanced arrow keys do not always work correctly. They DO work properly in Pages, Email, and Docs To Go. They DO NOT work correctly in QuickOffice Pro HD (the paid version) or in Goggle's free QuickOffice.
I would love it if the arrow keys could be used in other apps, such as being able to scroll browsers, to move among photos in albums, or to change dates in the calendar.
Note also that, as with all of the other external keyboards that I have used, neither autocorrect nor auto capitalization works (adding a period and a cap when you press the spacebar twice).
In summary, this new keyboard is a nice peripheral for the iPad Air, and the cost is way below the prices set by other vendors for their products. In fact, it cost about the same or a little more than just purchasing a protective back and cover for your iPad.
Things I would like to see included or improved:
+Add a backlight function to the keyboard.
+Do a better job of holding the Bluetooth connection.
+Improve the ability to remove the iPad from the case, possibly by including finger access holes in the top of the case, so you could apply pressure to the back of the iPad.
+Program the arrow keys to work in apps other than email or word processing.
+Add more lag time to the repeat function.
+Enable the detachment of the entire top of the case, with the iPad, from the keyboard itself, such as found in the New Trent Airbender 2.0 (at more than twice the price, however).
+Add a groove or grip to the front half of the keyboard to hold as you slide back the rear of the keyboard stand. Currently it is somewhat awkward to open the case, slide back the bracket, and position the iPad in the holders.
A final note: this keyboard seems like a smaller version of the Arcadia Arclight 2.0 keyboard sold by New Trent for iPads 2 through 4. I suspect that one company manufactures many of the keyboards and other devices for the iPads, and then labels them for the various sellers.
Update Dec 17, 2013:
SHARKK responded to my review to say that I was given an early production run model, and many of my comments are being addressed: nicer specific packaging and a new manual, plus fixing the dropped connection issue that seems to be a problem with the new iPad Airs and Minis.
Update Jan 22, 2014:
I received the new version of the keyboard yesterday. I had it on for several hours today, and I'm happy to report that it has not lost its connection yet. Also, it seems like the repeat function has been slowed down a bit. At least I can now type without so many extra characters appearing. Good job SHARKK.
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